Horizontal inequality in the transition to upper secondary education in Spain

Bibliographic Data

ID5909809
AuthorsManuel T Valdés (0000-0001-8012-3956, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume107
Issue2
Pagese2968
Publication date2022-04-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePapers Revista de Sociologia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0210-2862 • E-ISSN: 2013-9004
PublisherAutonomous University of Barcelona (PUBLISHER • ES)
DOI10.5565/rev/papers.2968
OpenAlexW4224286098
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited32

Effectively maintained inequality theory posits that a reduction in vertical inequality following the expansion of a level of education will be compensated by an increase in horizontal inequality. Although this theory has been intensely studied in various countries, it has barely been explored in the Spanish case. To fill this gap, I use data from the Survey on the Transition from Education/Training to Labour Market Insertion and analyse the sample of students who completed compulsory education in 2001, right after the expansion of upper secondary education (baccalaureate) in Spain. I study two forms of horizontal inequality: the type of education enrolled in (including which modality is preferred in the academic track) and the time for completion of the academic track. I report that the saturation of baccalaureate in the choice against vocational education triggered substantial inequalities in the preference for the most rewarding modalities of baccalaureate: socioeconomically advantaged students preferred the natural sciences and technology, while disadvantaged students preferred the social sciences, humanities, and arts. In turn, inequality in the time for completion of baccalaureate is mostly vertical as the two most likely results for all socioeconomic groups are to complete baccalaureate in two years or not complete it at all

Demographic economics · Disadvantaged · Economic growth · Economics · Educational inequality · Geography · Higher education · Horizontal and vertical · Inequality · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Population · Preference · Social inequality · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Vocational education · Demography · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality · Mathematics · Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access